Some close to home Camping at Pineview Reservior

Tammy and I decided to take our kiddos camping to pass the hot summer days by. We got a cool spot in the trees and not too far from the lake. The most amazing part was we actually did it. The two of us always come up with the most spectacular plans and very seldom follow through. But this time we did it. It was a huge team effort that is for sure. The next amazing part was that we set up camp all by ourselves with no men. Grown boys don't count either, although they helped a ton.

Nellie found the best spot in the whole camp! Isn't she so cute?!

 So I believe it was Tammy that came up with the idea to play the Amazing Race with the kids. It did involve a lot of pre-planning and printing all the clues. Above Logan is reading a clue with his partner Kayli, his cousin

Ke'Nia and her Cousin Chance were partners!.

 So we made boy/girl partners to make it fair, or so we thought. We had Rileigh with Ridge. Logan with his cousin Kayli and Ke'Nia with her cousin Chance. Above Ridge is doing push-ups during an obstacle course challenge.

 Tammy made an American Questionaire that the kids had to answer correctly or recite the National Anthem in order to move on.  Rileigh/Ridge got the questions correct and the other two teams had to recite the National Anthem.

 The teams had to shoot ten bullets into the buckets to get the next clue. Kayli was not so talented in this challenge. We timed them to determine the winners!

 Kayli and Logan have a love/hate relationship. Logan was really patient with Kayli in helping her with each challenge.

 Our spectators Driggs and Nellie

 Above is the egg drop challenge. The teams had to secure eggs to be dropped from a tree. We had two teams with un-cracked eggs, Rileigh/Ridge and Ke'Nia and Chance!

 Rileigh with her partner Ridge on the paddle board. This was my favorite challenge in which we anchored clues out in the lake and the kids had to paddle board as teams to retrieve them.

 Another spectator, cousin Kayci!

 My cute nephew Driggs - what a cutie!

 The clue was a puzzle that had to be read and put together to move onto the next challenge!

The first night we had dutch oven and Ken joined us for dinner. Then we had ice cream in a bag for dessert. On the first night we were awakened by some drunk teenagers that were fighting and being so loud. Needless to say the cops finally showed up and given the fact we had no husbands to protect us we went home at 2:30 in the morning. We didn't let us stop our fun and ruin all our hard work. We went right back the next morning. The hoodlums were gone and we got nice new camping neighbors the second night. Above was the the second night and we roasted hot dogs and marshmellows. Hope to do this again it was really fun and kept the kids very very entertained.

Aaaaaand then SuMmER BEGAN! Summer of 2013 that is!

 Spring running/training - pictured above was Malan's Peak!

Liz Polad, Michelle White, Me, Mandy Wallace and Brooke Miller

 A Summer day at the Bowery playing on the green grass and in the stream. 

Brecklyn Love, Aly White, Rileigh and Brynlee Love.

 Logan, Luke Torman, Brecklyn, Aly, Rileigh, Brynlee, Haley White and Jenna Torman

 Slip N Slide in the back yard with a BFF!

Nellie and Jackson White. Ooh that sounds like they are married.

 Then all the neighbors joined in!

 A little/minor hike/trail run up Ben Lomond Peak. First time for me!

Mandy Wallace, Me, Liz Polad, and Tricia Buss.

 Tanner Polad and Nellie. Tanner's 5th Birthday Party Stomp!

 What is a summer without Pogo Stick Jump Rope!

Rileigh is so funny, I sat on the driveway and watched her forever and giggled.

 It would not be summer without a Drive-In - we saw Epic!

 Rileigh running the Annie Oakley 5K right in our Hood!

 A Brave attempt at Mtn. Biking down Snow Basin. 

Logan Did AweSoMe, me not so much on my new bike. I cried and screamed a LoT!

Nellie and Rileigh had a nice hike and Gondola ride.

 A little pre-cancerous skin cancer spot for the summer!

Lesson learned- never mind my wrinkles

 

My Summer project: Dresser and Night Stand Makeover which turned into a bedroom makeover that is still in the works!

 Nellie Mae and the good ol' Morgan County Splash Pad!

 Nellie, Rileigh, KeNia and Gracie Martin!

 Activity Days Camp with this girl. They decorated these bags!

 A little Summer Math to get the brain turning again. This is the point when the light bulb went off and she remembered how to solve a problem that she had forgotten how to do!

 Nellie writing her letters and Logan cruising through his math sheet!

 This pretty much sums up Powell for the Summer. He plays all night and sleeps all day!

 One more Ragnar in the books, this is my 5th year doing this blasted race. It gets more fun each year!

 These two are off to their first day of Aerospace Camp. They loved it and look forward to doing it again!

 My Dad was awarded "Hometown Hero of Layton City" for his service in the Vietnam War. He was awarded at a city park ceremony and rode on the Veterans float for the 4th of July Parade in Layton City! My Uncle Guy nominated him - pretty cool.

 There was a lot of paddle boarding this summer. This was at Pine View Reservoir.

Logan Boy got braces to make him Pretty!

 Nellie went to a Princess Party for Sophia Terry. This is her carriage ride to the Ball!

 Taegan Polad, Nellie and Madison Penrod all dressed up for the party. So Pretty!

 A lot of Mtn. Biking was done with the girls.

Last not but no least we finally got a pony tail in this girl!

Maob Party of 5

This is what MOAB stands for:

M - Mother
O - of
A- Awesommness
B- Bash!!!

Loaded and all set to go.

I'm just gonna toot my own horn here and say I, the Mother, planned a pretty awesome trip.

The 5 of us headed down over the kids' Spring Break at School at the end of May. It was borderline hot but over all the weather was perfect. We snagged a pretty cool camp spot up Kane Creek.

Real petroglyphs up Kane Creek
 

















The camp spot was in a secluded area with surrounding red cliffs all around. So beautiful! Rich had been to Moab several times on man trips. I myself had not been since I was Logan and Rileigh's age, 9.

We camped the first night then got a room at the local hostel for the second night. Our thinking was to take a break from the sand and heat and get a shower in. Then the third night we had just left our camp set up and camped the last night. It worked out pretty good and mixed it up a bit.

The first night. Once we got settled I surprised Rich with his favorite deli varieties of meats and cheeses. He was a happy boy!

We wateched the moon peak up over the cliffs, so cool.






















 Then we had a jump roping competition in the dark!

The next morning we went on a couple hikes. When I say hikes, Nellie was not having it. So Rich and the other two ventured off while Nellie and I stayed back. We found shade under a tree and watched jeeps rock crawl. Then we went on a hike that someone had told us about to some waterfalls. Needless to say it was packed but cooled us off and the kids loved it. We then showered at the hostel and started some dinner.

Nellie blowing bubbles outside the cabin. 

The Hostel was a bit scary with some interesting folks. One homeless dude had a make shift tent out of sheets right next to our cabin. He was totally trying to get an invite to our dinner. Oh, and he only had one eye! As soon as we ate we took a drive to get shaved ice and get away from crazy folks.

Once we got back we went in our cabin locked the door and went to bed. Nellie chose to sleep on the top bunk and hit concrete in the middle of the night. That freaked me out and had her upset. If she would've listened to me and slept on the bottom, but whatever.

The next day we met up with our neighbor friends the Wallin's. We met them at Dead Horse Point.

Right away the kids got in on a Jr. Ranger class. We then did a small hike and had a very pleasant picnic! Someone came up with the idea to drive down some crazy road. I was so nervous I made Rich let me drive so I wouldn't freak out. It was really fun and bouncy. We got a quick soak in their pool at a Moab hotel. Then wished them farewell. We had a dutch oven calling our names.

Back at camp everything was still safe and sound. I fired up some dinner while Rich took the kids straight up a cliff. I don't know what it is about camping but the food is so good and so fun to prepare. It was especially enjoyable given the fact that I had camp to myself.

Dinner was hot and ready as soon as they got back.

Sunday morning we cleaned up camp and took our time. On the way out of town we wanted to hit Arches National Park. Since we took so long getting into the park it was blasted hot. We did a short jaunt to see the Arch from a distance then decided we needed to suck it up and hike to the Arch.

At times Nellie was a good sport and would hike along like a 9 year old!

I think it was 3 miles round trip. So worth it and so beautiful. Nellie got carried more than half way, such a turd.


I promise the 5 of us are under there. People were so nice and took turns going under it to take pictures for each other.

Such a great trip for our little family. Can't wait to do it all over again!